Things You'll Need:
- Sweet pea seeds
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Step 1
Plant the wild sweet pea for a hardy vine with purple flowers. The wild sweet pea thrives in many zones and is ideal for a wildflower garden. Its green foliage spreads along the ground or fence for background color. It is often found growing wild in pastures and farm areas.
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Step 2
Choose dwarf sweet peas for container gardens, window boxes and hanging baskets. Dwarf sweet peas grow up to 12 inches and do not need climbing support. Their small stature blends well with other container plants. Their fragrance makes them an excellent choice to fill a foliage planter that otherwise has little fragrance.
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Step 3
Plant trailing or dwarf bush sweet peas for a bouquet within one plant. Compact varieties like Fantasia can be grown trailing from a hanging basket or in a planter as a single bushy plant 6 to 12 inches tall. These often have up to a dozen different color flowers on one small plant. They are highly fragrant.
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Step 4
Use standard sweet peas such as the Old Fashioned type for flower and vegetable gardens. These fragrant varieties require some support as they grow up to 5 feet tall. They attract bees and other pollinators for a well-pollinated garden. These sweet peas make excellent fence covers and grow on bamboo poles, wire or any support where they can twine.
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Step 5
Select the giant sweet peas for vigorous growing, large-flowered vines. They can be planted to cover an unsightly old building, ramble over yard debris or cover an unfinished garden area with impromptu flowery ground cover. Use these vines to save energy. Plant them next to a sun-exposed wall. They will readily grow up bird net or a cotton web to provide seasonal shade. These big beautiful plants give sun protection for the wall or can cool a patio area. Like a shade screen, they keep sun off the house. At the end of the summer, just pull them out and compost the plants.
